Just After May Day

Sometimes I think it would be good if gardeners got garden-amnesia each spring. It would help us enjoy the enthusiasm we have with our clean slate of soil without throwing in last year’s memories of weeds and deer and Japanese beetles.

Or maybe we do have a little amnesia already. Where I live the mosquitoes won’t be a problem for a few weeks. We do have little insidious flies that bite behind our ears and itch a lot. When the mosquitoes come out, we’re always a little surprised, even though it happens every year. Selective memory.

There are about a dozen things I really wanted to get to last year but didn’t. Guess what? There are still the same dozen things. Since we’re in the rain-every-other-day season, those 12 things aren’t getting done yet, but I still hold out hope.

 One of these days I’ll bring home some plants and really get things started, keeping in mind that it’s not recommended to plant until Memorial Day where I live. For now there are still lots of things to clean up from last season, and already a million little weeds getting their head start. They almost look cute now. I said, “almost.”

With talk of food shortages coming up – and I don’t know whether to believe the talk or not – it’s a good summer to have a garden, even if it’s containers on your porch. I’m happy with the food we grow, but to me the experience of gardening is very healthy for my mental health, such as it is.

So, onward into summer and the gift of gardening, which is always having something to do. 

I am an introvert who seeks recognition, but only a little bit. I live in Southern Wisconsin and yes, I do enjoy cheese and a half-dozen or so beers each year. Somehow I found someone willing to marry me back in 1976, and so far so good. We have children and grandchildren and they are all really something.

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